Going through addiction and recovery is a truly personal situation. Your experience won’t be exactly identical to anyone else’s. Still, though, you aren’t on the journey alone. Whether you have supportive parents, siblings, cousins, or friends who have become like family, these individuals are there for you. As a result, you may be wondering what role family counseling plays in rehab, particularly after you’ve finished your treatment program.
Reasons for Seeking Family Counseling
Whether or not you should get family counseling is a decision that you’ll have to come to along with your loved ones. While each family is different, some signs indicate that therapy might be the right move:
- the need to resolve past hurts
- the desire to come together again
- struggles with communicating
- sharing your journey and progress
- wanting a better future
The Need to Resolve Past Hurts
One major reason why people choose family counseling after rehab is to work on past hurts. For example, you might have hurt the ones whom you love as a result of your addiction. Both asking for forgiveness and offering that forgiveness are difficult. You and your relatives may need to open up to one another in ways that counseling can support and aid.
The Desire to Come Together Again
You also might not have seen your family for some time because of your addiction. Perhaps your relatives told you that they could no longer have you in their lives until you sought help. It’s also possible that you and your loved ones drifted apart because of the addiction. Coming back together again might feel awkward and uncomfortable. Going to counseling can help your family to rebuild the trust that you all once had with one another.
Struggles with Communicating
Communication struggles are common in relationships. Knowing what to say can feel uncomfortable. In fact, you and your loved ones may even have anxiety about speaking to one another at this new place in all of your lives. Family counseling can help you to learn new methods for communicating with one another. Furthermore, during the counseling sessions, you will be encouraged to share thoughts with one another in an open and honest way. Keep in mind that some of these communication issues may have predated your battle with addiction. Now, you have the opportunity to potentially resolve matters from far in the past.
Sharing Your Journey and Progress
You should not think of counseling as a negative experience. It’s true that you all might experience some discomfort during counseling, especially the initial sessions. However, going to counseling together is also a way for your family to celebrate your accomplishments. You should be proud of the fact that you have gone to treatment for addiction. You also might want to tell your family members about the positive experiences that you had in rehab, and you deserve to share these stories. Going to counseling can be an effective and positive way for your family to recognize that it is okay for you to speak about your time in rehab.
Wanting a Better Future
During counseling, you can restore the relationships that you once had with your relatives. You can also improve these relationships. During counseling, your family members might express ways in which they want their relationships with you to be even better than in the past. You might start to talk about future goals and plans with your family members. Maybe you all want to start new family traditions on certain holidays or commit to traveling together once every other year.
The decision to get counseling with your family members is one that you and your relatives need to have a conversation about. Keep in mind that some relatives may be more open than others. In any case, you can get further guidance on this topic by calling 833-820-2922 to speak with a trained specialist today.